London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

Former cricketer Imran Khan gave supporters a final message via videolink from a hospital bed before voters go to the polls in Pakistan tomorrow.

The leader of the Movement for Justice party addressed crowds gathered in Islamabad, saying: “God will not take me from this world until a new Pakistan is built.” Khan broke three vertebrae and a rib after falling at an election rally this week.

He was being lifted with a forklift truck onto a platform. Campaigning for the general election has now ended. Nawaz Sharif, who leads the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and is tipped to be the next prime minister, made an impassioned plea to crowds in Lahore minutes before midnight. “If you give us five years you will see that we can change the fate of this country,” he said.

Mr Sharif would be returning to power 14 years after he was ousted in a military coup, imprisoned and later exiled. But Mr Khan’s party was enjoying a late surge of support today, raising the prospect of a fragmented parliament.

The run-up to the election has been marred by violence, with more than 100 people killed in separate attacks. Yesterday, the son of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was abducted during an election rally.

Three people were killed by two bombs targeting the offices of candidates in north-west Pakistan, officials said today. Fifteen others were injured in the blasts in Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area. It was unclear which candidates were targeted. Militants have killed at least 130 people in attacks on candidates and party workers since the beginning of April in an attempt to hamper the vote.